Teenagers may know full well how important final exams are – but that won’t stop some

putting in minimal effort. This may be because their brains aren’t developed enough to
properly assess how high the stakes are, and adapt their behaviour accordingly.

Adults are generally pretty good at being able to tell when a situation is worthy of extra
time or concentration. Research has found that, when potential rewards or losses are
higher, for example, adults will perform better on tasks. But this doesn’t seem to be the
case for adolescents.

Catherine Insel, at Harvard University, and her team asked adolescents between the ages
of 13 and 20 to play a game while lying in an fMRI brain scanner. In some rounds of the
game, participants could earn 20 cents for a correct response, while an incorrect one
would cost them 10 cents. But in rounds with higher stakes, correct responses were
worth a dollar, and wrong answers lost the participants 50 cents.

Less-developed brains

The team found that while the older volunteers performed better in the high stakes
rounds, the younger ones didn’t – their performance didn’t change in line with whether
the stakes were low or high. And the older the volunteers were, the more improved their
performance was. “Interestingly, the ability to adjust performance according to the
stakes at play emerged gradually across adolescence,” says Insel.

Tieners weet dalk baie goed hoe belangrik eindeksamen is - maar dit sal nie keer dat sommige minimale moeite
doen nie. Dit kan wees omdat hul brein nie genoeg ontwikkel is om behoorlik te bepaal hoe hoog die insette is nie,
en hul gedrag dienooreenkomstig aan te pas.
Volwassenes is oor die algemeen redelik goed om te weet wanneer 'n situasie ekstra tyd of konsentrasie werd is.
Navorsing het bevind dat, wanneer potensiële belonings of verliese byvoorbeeld hoër is, volwassenes beter met
take sal presteer. Maar dit blyk nie die geval te wees vir adolessente nie.
Catherine Insel, aan die Harvard Universiteit, en haar span het adolessente tussen die ouderdomme van 13 en 20
gevra om 'n speletjie te speel terwyl hulle in 'n fMRI-breinskandeerder lê. In sommige rondes van die speletjie kon
deelnemers 20 sent verdien vir 'n korrekte antwoord, terwyl 'n verkeerde een hulle 10 sent sou kos. Maar in
rondtes met hoër insette was korrekte antwoorde 'n dollar werd, en verkeerde antwoorde het die deelnemers 50
sent verloor.
Minder ontwikkelde breine
Die span het gevind dat terwyl die ouer vrywilligers beter presteer het in die hoë-insette-rondtes, die jongeres dit
nie gedoen het nie - hul prestasie het nie verander in ooreenstemming met of die insette laag of hoog was nie. En
hoe ouer die vrywilligers was, hoe beter was hul prestasie. “Interessant genoeg het die vermoë om prestasie aan
te pas volgens die insette wat speel, geleidelik oor adolessensie na vore gekom,” sê Insel.